Reading Between the Lines
by live2rite
Summary: Set during the episode Threads. What were Jack and Sam's thoughts during those few days and what actually happened in between scenes, this is my take on that.


Disclaimer – I don't own any of these characters (as much as I might like to).

Reading between the lines.

Jack was sitting in his office, gazing into the distance, when there was a small knock at the door. He looked up to see Jacob standing nervously waiting to come in. Jack frowned slightly, since when was Jacob Carter nervous.

"Hey Jake, ya wanna come in?" he asked gesturing towards the chair in front of his desk. Jacob made his way in the room and closed the door behind him. He sat down in the chair and waited a few seconds before starting to speak.

"Jack, I need a favour"

"Sure, what's goin' on?" he asked confused.

"Well, first what do you think of Sam's boyf … fiancé even?" he asked looking him in the eye. Jack was stunned. Why did Jacob want to know what he thought of Pete?

"Pete?" he asked, stalling for time.

"Yeah, him"

"Well, I guess he's an ok guy" he responded trying not to let his personal feelings get in the way of Sam's dad liking his future son-in-law.

"Come on Jack, I know you better than that, tell me the whole truth"

"Well …" he looked up at Jacob and realised he wasn't leaving until he got the truth. He sighed and started again, "I don't like him Jake, like I said, I guess he's an ok guy and he makes Sam happier, even hum worthy …"

"Hum worthy?" he questioned

"Yeah, I caught her humming in the lift when she first met him, anyway I just don't think he understands her, I think he wants to but … well he resorted to a background check on Sam when she wouldn't tell him the truth about her work here and then almost wrecked a mission to catch Osiris, getting himself shot in the process, to be honest I only met the guy a few times, I really can't give you a full idea of him, just what my gut is telling me and …"

"And your gut may be biased because of what you feel for Sam" he finished. Jack didn't know what to say but he didn't ramble, it wasn't his style.

"Sir?" he questioned reverting back in military mode in a blink of an eye. Jacob rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.

"Come on Jack, everyone knows about how you guys feel about each other and don't worry I know you haven't done anything against any rules but how long can you guys just keep going like this?"

"Was there a specific point to these questions, Jacob?" he asked.

"Yeah that favour I asked about, I need you to set up a camera in my VIP room and watch my first meeting with Pete. I want to know what you think."

Jack was very confused know, even more than usual.

"Why?" he asked, cutting straight to the point.

"Please Jack, consider it a request from a father to the person who knows his daughter best" Jack was having a hard time figuring out why Jacob wanted him to do this so he took the easy way out.

"Ok, I'll set it up within the next hour"

"Good, I'll be back there to meet him in exactly an hour"

"Ok"

An hour later Jack had given the SF on duty in the surveillance room a 20 minute break. He switched the monitor to show the camera feed coming from the temporary camera in the VIP room and took out the receiving end for the audio device Jacob had insisted had been installed with it. He watched the door opened.

'Let the show begin' he thought glumly to himself.

"_Pete Shanahan … Jacob Carter. Dad, this is Pete."_ Sam introduced Pete, she was looking really nervous. 'Good introduction' he thought. He almost winced for her when Pete just stared at Jacob and then the penny dropped, 'ah she didn't tell him who he was meeting'

"_Dad!"_ Pete exclaimed finally. 'Oh God Pete, get past this, come on get your ass in gear man!' Jack thought.

"_Not quite yet. You have to actually marry my daughter before you can call me that."_ Jacob joked. Jack smirked as he watched, 'that was a good answer, Dad'_  
_

"_I was just ... I meant, duh, (he babbles incoherently, then laughs, embarrassed) stammer, stammer! It's an honour to meet you, sir, really. (He steps forward and shakes Jacob's hand, then turns to Sam.) Why didn't you tell me?"_

_  
"I didn't want you to be nervous."_ Jack almost laughed out loud at that. 'Nervous at meeting Jacob Carter! Never!'

_"D... would I, I wouldn't, I," he turns to Jacob "I've been dying to meet you."_ Pete responded, which seemed to be a pretty good save.

"I think it was Sam that was nervous." Jacob smiled at Sam who grimaced. Jack thought that was quite truthful, he knew Sam would have been nervous at the idea of her father meeting any of her boyfriends, let alone fiancé's.

_"How did not telling me help?"_ he asked Sam. 'Fair question' Jack thought.

_"It didn't." _she responded.

_  
As Jack watched there was a long awkward pase where everyone stared at each other. This was going real peachy. Pete suddenly grinned at Jacob._

"_This is great! You've really got one of those things in your head?" _Pete asked._  
_

Sam's smiled dropped on the screen and Jack felt his jaw drop in shock.

_"If, by "one of those things", you mean a two thousand year old Tok'Ra symbiote, yes."_

_"Seriously! Go on!" He laughed "That has gotta freak you right out sometimes! It's weird!"_

The rest of the conversation didn't last long mainly because Jack rang Harriman and asked him to come up with an excuse to get Carter out of there, something small, but something that only Sam could handle. He watched as Pete shook hands with Jacob once more and Sam and Pete left the room. Jacob turned to the camera and said to it.

"I'll meet you in your office"

Ten minutes later Jacob entered his office and just sighed as he shut the door.

"That could have gone better" Jack ventured.

"He was a moron!" Jacob stated. Privately Jack agreed with that comment.

"Aw come on, the guy was real nervous at meeting you and can ya blame him?" he asked.

"Jack you can't seriously look me in the eye and tell me that you think she's better off with that simpering lock jaw than …" he trailed off realizing that this conversation was going in a very different direction than he intended.

"Jacob why don't you just tell me exactly where you're going with this so we can save time"

"I think that you and Sam are wasting precious time, I know how short life can be and I don't want either of you to die with any regrets" he said without hesitating. Jack fixed Jacob in his sharp gaze.

"Is there anything you wanna tell me Dad" he asked.

"No Jack, I just don't want to see either of you wasting any more time, is that so wrong?" he asked.

"No, as long as that's all this is"

"Jack, I'm gonna leave you alone as soon as I get the truth from you about my next question, Do you love my daughter?"

Jack looked at him for a few minutes, neither of them backing down until Jack decided to just tell him the truth he asked for, he thought about it and as the complete truth hit him he just blurted it out.

"Yes, always have since I first met her, probably always will" he said shocking himself with the sudden full realisation of his feelings for Sam. Jacob however just smiled and exited the room, knowing full well he was leaving a very confused Jack behind him. Jack for his part didn't know what to do with this sudden rush of feelings for his 2IC. He sighed and pulled himself together, after all he did have a date that night.

The next morning, all in all was ok, he decided until about the time Carter got the phone call from Pete. He had been awoken by Carter telling him he was needed at the base and he was only to glad to get up and go before Kerry had decided to become all clingy which she had a horrible habit of doing in the morning. Not that he didn't like to cuddle but it was just he never felt right cuddling with Kerry. He had a good meeting and then that damn phone call which made him feel all jealous, CRAP! Damn Jacob, he had all this buried where the feelings for Sam were supposed to be and know his head was everywhere watching him standing in front of him with the whole vulnerable thing going on. He just wished he was on his own (i.e. Kerry wasn't in his house) because she really looked like she was about to let something slip. He almost hated himself for he fact his heart leapt with joy when she said she was having second thoughts with Pete and what did he do … instead of declare his undying love and sweep her off her feet he acts dumb! And then Kerry decides to make her appearance and that just took her biscuit. What was it about them, why couldn't they just catch a break! And now she's running off back to the base and he decides that he had better follow if there is something wrong with Jacob he needs to be there.

Now he's sitting in his office and Kerry is knocking on his door.

"How's Colonel Carter's father?" she asks

"Doesn't look good." Jack responds

"Sorry to hear that." She says and walks into the office and closes the door behind her.

"Closing the door?" he asks suspiciously.

"Yeah. Deeply symbolic." She jokes half heartedly

"Really?"

"I really like you. We're good together." She starts as she smiles at him.

"Yes. We are. But?" he asks as he stands up.

"You have issues. It's OK – we all do. There's just one big one in particular that I don't think I can love with." As she flinches at her Freudian slip, Jack raises his eyebrow "_Live_ with." She corrects and then continues, "I need to get out before I get more involved. We can still work together, can't we? I'd _hate_ to have to ask for reassignment. This is really important to me. We agreed this would never affect the job." She implored Jack.

"We did." He agreed

"Good." She smiled at him again and made her way to the door before pausing and turning to face him once again with her hands on her hips, "You know, there's just one thing I don't understand."

"Just one?" he joked but Kerry continued anyway.

"Is the Air Force the only thing keeping you two apart? Rules and regulations? Because if it is, you're making a very big mistake." She said. This hit Jack hard and could only answer honestly.

"And you know what I should do?" he questioned.

"Retire." She said, Jack inwardly sighed, like he'd never considered _that_ one before.

"Again." He said dully.

"Don't get me wrong – you are considered invaluable to the programme by the Pentagon, but the President has appointed a civilian to run the SGC before." Jack nodded at this, it was true, Dr Weir might have made a good commander of this base, "Just a thought." She said and left the room. Jack couldn't help but think what it might be like to run this base as a civilian instead of a General. It would be ok by the Air Force personal because he knew how the Air Force worked and would be able to take such considerations into thought before making decisions, he would be doing the same job as know without the title. The only question is would the President go for it. He sighed and decided such deep thought was only suitable for people with Carter sized intelligences.

Later in the isolation room, Jack wanders in a sits down next to Sam and looks at Jacob before finally looking at her.

"You OK?" he asks, knowing that she had been crying at the look on her face but at the moment her face was dry.

"Actually, I'm fine. Good, even, strange as that sounds. I thought I lost him four years ago. Since then, we've been closer than we ever were in my whole life. In a way, Selmak gave me the father I never thought I'd know." She admitted to him but Jack knew that despite how calm she was portraying herself, she was pulling herself apart inside and he wanted to offer her some sort of comfort the best he could, after a moment of staring at her, he makes up his mind.

"C'me here." He puts his arm around her shoulder and she reaches up and takes his hand and snuggles into his shoulder, rubbing her thumb against his hand. They sit and look at Jacob for a moment together, Jack trying to offer as much comfort as possible through this innocent connection as possible.

"Thank you, sir." Sam said after a minute or so.

"For what?" he asks quietly, wishing so much he could do more.

"For being here for me." She responds honestly and in that instant he knew that despite his dire

thoughts for the opposite Sam Carter still had the feelings that he had for her, for him. He didn't know what to say to that for a second, he had to remind himself that, at the moment, she still had a fiancé. Suddenly he thought of the only word which could suffice at that moment.

"Always." She looked up at him and caught his gaze, he could see so much reflected in her eyes, her love for him, her vulnerability at what was happening, her fear for her father. She broke the gaze and settled her head on his shoulder as she looked at her father. He saw Jacob say something to the Tok'ra who was in the room with him and then say.

"I'm Ready" the Tok'ra looked up at Sam, who hurried down into the isolation room. Jack felt so helpless as Jacob told his daughter that he loved her and then quietly slipped away. He hardly dared to look at Sam but he did and felt his heart break at the look of grief on her face.

The next few days passed in a bit of a blur, with Daniel returning and Jacobs memorial service. Jack found out from Daniel that Sam had called off the wedding and broken up with Pete so he set into motions with the President the idea of him running the SGC as a civilian. General Hammond had of course been invaluable, knowing full well why he wanted to do this. Jack left the matter in his capable hands and took his ex team up to his cabin. This was the first time Sam had been up to his cabin and he hoped she liked it. He also hoped by the time they got back to Colorado Springs that General Hammond would have managed to work some more of his magic and he would finally be able to tell Sam the whole truth about how he felt about her.

After two days of being at the cabin, Jacks cell rang as he was preparing an evening snack.

"O'Neill" he said into his cell.

"Jack, its Hammond"

"George! What can I do for ya?" he asked.

"Well actually I have good news for you, its done Jack, the president has approved your request, as of this moment, you're a civilian, congratulations!" he said happily. Jack was initially shocked.

"Wow, thanks George" there was a pause on the other end of the phone as he was deciding what he should say.

"I know how long you've been waiting to tell Sam, Jack, please don't get cold feet about telling her, you two deserve more than a medal for your self restraint over the years, hell you deserve a god damn parade! Please tell me you'll tell her the moment this conversation is over" he sounded like he was almost pleading.

"Oh don't worry General, I will" he smirked to himself.

"Good, now I've got to go, I just wanted to tell you personally"

"Thanks again, bye" he hung up and stood still for a minute. He made up his mind and then made two cups of coffee and walked towards the spare room that Sam had been given when they arrived. He knocked on the door (with some difficulty he was after balancing two cups of coffee). Sam answered the door.

"Sir!" she said surprised, he normally left her to her own devices after midnight, she then spotted the coffee, "Is that Coffee?"

"Yup, here ya go, can I come in for a minute Sam?" the use of her first name did not go unnoticed by her, she knew he was up to something and was kind of intrigued.

"Sure" she moved aside to allow him entrance and shut the door behind him, she sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside her.

"So what did you want to ask me Sir?"

"Well, actually I have something to tell you" he said stalling slightly.

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I kinda retired …again" Sam looked shocked for a second and then exploded.

"WHAT! Sir you aren't serious, what about the SGC, there are so many people who …" she started on her rant before jack silenced her by putting his finger on her lips, she was so stunned by the gesture that her eyes widen dramatically.

"Sam, I retired from the Air force but I'm still in charge at the SGC" she frowned for a second, that made no sense to her, then she realized what that meant … for them. She smiled and took his and her coffee cups and put them on the side.

"You're sure that's what you want?" she asked as she sat back down facing him. Jack smiled and put his hand on her cheek. He looked in her eyes and said,

"What about you Sam? What do you want?" he asked, she sighed and responded.

"I want us Jack, but I need to know that's what you want too" she asked, she was looking vulnerable again and although he could count the number of times she was vulnerable on one hand he knew they were all when he was around. He smiled and leaned in towards her.

"Always Sam, always" he whispered before his lips finally met hers.

The End.

A/N Ever since I saw the Episode "Threads" I always wondered what was going on in their minds at those moments, so I made up a little one shot for that episode as I couldn't concentrate on "I cant believe this" at the time, most is actually scenes but I added my own little thing between Jack and Jacob, please review, please luv Nicki.


End file.
